The paper describes the possibility of forming a tourism and recreation cluster in depressed rural communities through a process of territorial planning (based on the example of rural settlements in Borisoglebskii and Bolsheselsky municipal districts of the Yaroslavl region). On the basis of the identified negative features of socio-economic status of the territories of rural settlements confirmed their depression and overall difficulty of further development. Substantiated what is happening now with changing functions of rural areas. As one of the potential strategic directions of development analyzed are the changes in the prevailing agrarian economy through the organization of tourist and recreational facilities. To this end, the group factors are identified that need to be supported in the implementation of this plan: a variety of tourist activities, natural and environmental, social and economic factors. In general, the article highlights that the formation of the tourist and recreation areas is conducive due to the immense open spaces, historical and cultural sites, unique landscapes, convenient geographical position. The problems of the deployment of tourist services on these territories are identified, which are mostly related to the imperfection of the legislation in relation to recreational areas, the existing practice of taxation and social and economic status. As a result, it is shown that in the procedure of spatial planning and in the process of identifying all the features and trends the functional role has changed and formation of qualitatively new areas of management has happened. Determined is the severity of the recreational functions of the system of settlement with respect to the combination of suburban settlements and second-home and production facilities.